The Transition Phase

How to change from your normal diet to the Budwig Diet

Dr Johanna Budwig specifically recommends how to eat the soft foods on the transition diet. Even though the foods are soft and mushy, she stated the importance of working the food in the mouth to get the digestive enzymes working before swallowing each mouthful. So slowly swoosh, swirl and chomp each mouthful.

Dr Budwig stresses the importance of warm drinks such as green tea and herbal infusions throughout her books, so be sure to include plenty of these drinks during the transition, whichever you decide to follow.

Linseed the all important part of the staple growing and in flower

The Transition Days before the Full Budwig Diet

When you look through her works Johanna Budwig has a few different suggestions. As her methods were those of gentleness and kindness, she wouldn’t have forced something unappealing onto a patient. If you are doing the Budwig Diet on your own, the best course to finding a transition approach that suits you is to read the suggestions below and select the one that sounds best to you. Johanna Budwig recommends transitioning from your normal diet over a period of days. The purpose of the transition is to gently adapt the body and mind to the full diet and a bit of a detox as well. She says the transition is important and well tolerated by the very unwell. She recommends a transition of a few days, particularly for cancer of the liver, pancreas, stomach and gall bladder.

Linseed (flax seed) which needs to be freshly ground is one of the staples of the transition phase of the Budwig Protocol.Linseed (flax seed) the traditional brown or bronze variety is one of the staples of the transition phase of the Budwig Protocol.

“The Oil-Protein Diet Cookbook” Johanna Budwig (1952).

In this the transition is a one-day “detox” type change from the usual diet. She says it is important and well tolerated even by the severely ill. It is an excellent dietary reset for anyone who is feeling their whole system is out of sorts or lethargic.

250g of freshly-ground linseed to be taken in pure, freshly-made juices from fruits and vegetables and nothing else.

In particular she recommends carrot juice, celery or beetroot with apple juice. The linseed can be added to a drink of juice or put in a bowl and moistened with juice in the way you would pour milk over muesli. She also recommends warm herbal teas: she specifically mentions peppermint, mallow and rosehip. The tea should be drunk at least three times a day. Black tea is allowed in the afternoon. She allows a little honey or grape juice for sweetening the teas.
For those who are very unwell Dr Budwig suggests a “champagne breakfast” of champagne and ground linseed. She doesn’t make it clear exactly how to do the champagne breakfast but as she refers to Linomel, a German ready-made product lightly honey-sweetened ground linseed, an easy option for the UK would be mixing freshly- ground linseed with a little honey and adding some champagne to it. It’s probably OK to then drink the rest of the champagne on its own.

“Der Tod des Tumors” (Death of the Tumour) Johanna Budwig (1977)

The transition she prescribed for those with liver and gall bladder cancer was to have only freshly-ground linseed (flaxseed) besides the normal diet, which should probably start at less than the 3-4 tablespoons recommended on the full diet After a few days a mixture of quark (1 tablespoon) and linseed (flax seed) oil (1 teaspoon) can be introduced. This is increased (up to the full diet over time) depending on the severity of the illness and how well the food is tolerated.

“Cancer – The Problem and the Solution” Johanna Budwig (1999)

The transition can be over one to three days, her prescription depended on her assessment of the patient.
She offers three alternatives:
1. Porridge with ground linseed every hour. In The Oil-Protein Diet Cookbook Johanna Budwig gives a variety of recipes for a thin porridge with linseed which she recommends for infants and the very ill.
2. Oatmeal soup (this is an easy-to-digest food for those who are unwell, it is quite a common food in many parts of Europe, see recipes) with ground linseed 3 times daily.
3. 250g ground linseed plus juices throughout the day. Papaya juice is particularly recommended as “very important”. 10 a.m freshly-pressed carrot juice.
The following additions seem to apply to all three variations of the transition diet.
Ensure that you take a warm drink at least 3 times a day, e.g. green tea or herbal tea.
Sweeten only with a little honey.